Michael Allen

A group of children play ball in the courtyard after dark as Anthony W. Batts walks through a high-crime West Baltimore public housing project wrapped around the Edgar Allan Poe House.

It's quiet here, with an officer permanently stationed on-site, but the new police commissioner's department is dealing with problems across the city — two people will be killed in shootings by the end of the night. As Batts travels through Baltimore to learn on the job about his new town, he'll also get a close look at the uneven relationship between police and the community.

Batts strides through the complex and introduces himself to a man named Lamont riding a bike.

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